We've learned that a large number of people raised Catholic are leaving the faith only to be replaced in the pews:

Pew (2007): "Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses. … Catholicism has lost more people to other religions or to no religion at all than any other single religious group. These losses, however, have been offset partly by people who have switched their affiliation to Catholicism, but mostly by the significant number of Catholics who have immigrated to the U.S. in recent decades, primarily from Latin America."

American Grace (2010): "Over the last few decades, large numbers of 'Anglo'—that is, non-Latino—Catholics have been dropping out of or disengaging with the Catholic Church, without being replaced by other Anglo converts. … The Catholic fraction of the U.S. population has held steady only because the departing grandchildren of white ethnic immigrants of the first decades of the twentieth century have been roughly balanced by arriving Latino Catholics. … Just as white ethnic Catholics have rushed out one door of the Church, they have been replaced by new Latinos rushing in the other door."

PRRI (2013): "Of all major religious groups, Catholics have experienced the largest net loss of adherents due to switching religious affiliation, but these losses have been largely offset by Hispanic immigration to the United States."

....

Pew, Gallup, and PRRI all do good and reliable research. I frequently use and enthusiastically cite their data on this blog. However, the manner in which their research is often communicated and then translated by the press tends to be a bit sensationalistic and lacking of a complete context. Only after the news stories have all been written does a more comprehensive and realistic tone seem to set in. For example, see John Allen's enlighteninginterview with Pew researchers regarding the numbers on Catholics leaving the Church. Louis Lugo notes, "From headlines, they may have the impression that the Catholic church is just bleeding members, but that's out of context. You have to compare it to retention rates of other religious groups" and Greg Smith indicates, "Because so many people were raised Catholic, it means that in terms of raw numbers, there are a lot of former Catholics out there. It's not because Catholics do a worse job keeping their members, but because so many were raised Catholic." By contrast, research reports and executive summaries often seem to include more hyperbole chasing headlines. Journalists also seem to lose too much of the research in translation for a more sensible portrait to emerge.

Last night's premiere of Focus' first movie, "Irreplaceable," was a success in every way possible thanks to God's grace and your support.

In fact, due to the overwhelming response and the fact that many were turned away last night, we have decided to schedule a national encore performance for Thursday, May 15. You can check local availability for these new showings and purchase tickets atwww.irreplaceablethemovie.com.

We're humbled by the way supporters of the family showed up for our film on Tuesday. Preliminary reports show nearly 100,000 people attended last night's debut.

Wow.

That number amounts to completely full theaters across the country. For example, theaters in Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Seattle were sold-out. Bristol, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; Knoxville, Tennessee; and areas in Wisconsin and Kentucky also had theaters at capacity. Even various cinemas in California – including some in Santa Monica, Long Beach, Fresno and Bakersfield – were sold-out, to name just a few.

Of these theaters, we also know that several showings had expanded into larger auditoriums.

I was moved as I witnessed the sense of excitement inside the lobby of one of Colorado Springs' three sold-out events. Every seat full – not to enjoy an action film with the hottest Hollywood actor, but to watch a documentary that upheld God's design for society, family and marriage.

Many say it's been a tough decade for us evangelical Christians. The media say that Christianity is in great decline. We hear that most young adults dropped out of evangelical churches and that everyone hates us.

The actual numbers tell a different story. The American Religious Identification Survey pointed to an overall decline of self-identified Christians. But although those numbers show a steep decline among mainline Christians, they also show a growth pattern for evangelicals.

Even so, these are challenging times that call for reassessment.

Here are five things we need to face the next 10 years:

1. A clear understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel is not you do, it's Jesus did. People don't need to be taught to turn over a new leaf—they need to receive and live out a new life. That new life is from Jesus' death on the cross, for our sin and in our place. Don't build a message that would still be true if Jesus had not died on the cross.

2. A stronger focus on discipleship. God grows us as we are in a position to receive that growth. This can only happen through intentional awareness and leadership on the part of both leaders and church members. In LifeWay Research's Transformational Discipleship project, the largest statistical study of its kind, we found that discipleship was both lacking and simple—we just needed to remind people to live out who God has made us in Christ.

3. A greater passion for mission. We need to stand up against the clergification in the modern-day church—the tendency to look at those who are professional ministers and say that they are the ones who are called to the mission, while the people in the pews are merely consumers of religious goods and services. We need to see all of God's people engaged in God's mission, from their respective neighborhoods all the way to the nations.

Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, joined me at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tenn., to discuss his story, the new direction of the organization, cultural engagement, his book ReFocus and the new documentary Irreplaceable.